more about tides - Hydrographic office

1 Tidal theory 1. introduction tides : The periodic vertical movement of water on the Earth s Surface (Admiralty Manual of Navigation) tides are very often neglected or taken for granted, they are just the sea advancing and retreating once or twice a day. The Ancient Greeks and Romans weren t particularly concerned with the tides at all, since in the Mediterranean they are almost imperceptible. It was this ignorance of tides that led to the loss of Caesar s war galleys on the English shores, he failed to pull them up high enough to avoid the returning tide.

2 In the beginning tides were explained by all sorts of legends. One ascribed the tides to the breathing cycle of a giant whale. In the late 10th century, the Arabs had already begun to relate the timing of the tides to the cycles of the moon. However a scientific explanation for the tidal phenomenon had to wait for Sir Isaac Newton and his universal theory of gravitation which was published in 1687. He described in his Principia Mathematica how the tides arose from the gravitational attraction of the moon and the sun on the earth.

3 He also showed why there are two tides for each lunar transit, the reason why spring and neap tides occurred, why diurnal tides are largest when the moon was furthest from the plane of the equator and why the equinoxial tides are larger in general than those at the solstices. Thus the gravitational theory became established as the basis for all tidal science. Details of the tides at any given place are governed by the responses of the ocean to the gravitational forces. South Africa has a relatively simple tidal system with semi-diurnal tides and a relatively small tidal range.

4 Australia is however very complex from a tidal point of view. It has a full spectrum of tidal regimes, and a tidal range varying from 1m to over 10m. This is due to coastal topography and the shape of the ocean bottom which plays a major role in determining the tidal patterns around the country. In addition, we must also look at non-gravitational factors (eg seasonal, wind) that frequently have a large influence on the behaviour of the sea level. This can add additional complications to an already complicated situation.

5 Why do we need tidal predictions? Knowledge of the times and heights of tides and the speed and direction of tidal streams is important to a variety of people. These include: a. The Hydrographic Surveyor in order to reduce soundings to a common datum. This is very important, as the Navy would not be able to defend our waters without accurate charts. b. The Navigator, particularly in estuarine and coastal waters and the approaches to harbours. c. Harbour and Coastal Engineers in the construction of harbour works, bridges, locks and dykes.

6 D. The Public to know when to go fishing, sailing, cross rivers on hiking trails etc. 2. TIDE RAISING FORCES Firstly we need to look at Newton s laws of motion and gravity, however centripetal acceleration plays a major part in this section as well. Newton s law of motion states that the acceleration of a body equals the force acting on it per unit mass Acceleration (a) = Force (F) Mass (m) Newton s law of gravity states that a body of mass M exerts a gravitational attraction on a unit of mass at a distance r of Fg = GM r in which G is the universal gravitational constant (see definition list) Centripetal Acceleration (Ac)

7 Is the acceleration of a body towards the center of curvature of the path along which it is moving and for a body with velocity along a path with radius of curvature (r). (Ac) = v r We will now compare the gravitational attraction of the Sun on the Earth to that of the Moon on the Earth Mass of the Sun = 27 million times that of the Mass of the Moon. Distance of the Sun to Earth = 390 times the distance of the Moon to Earth Thus Fg(sun) = 27 x 106 Fg(moon) (390) = 178 times that of the Moon.

8 So the gravitational attraction of the Sun is 178 times greater than that of the gravitational attraction of the Moon. But how can this be? We all know the moon is more effective in producing tides than the Sun. There is a simple explanation for this, and it is not that we have been lied to! It is only the proportion of the gravitational force NOT balanced by centripetal acceleration (Ac) in the Earth s orbital motion that produces the tides . This unbalanced portion is proportional to the inverse cube of the distances rather than the inverse square of the distances from the Earth.

9 However it is still proportional to the mass as in Fg = GM .r And so from this we can see that the tide raising forces of the sun are approximately 178/390 = times that of the Moon. Or the tide raising forces of the Sun are that of the tide raising forces of the Moon In general we talk about the Earth orbiting the Sun, but in reality the Earth and the Sun both rotate around a common center of mass which is less than 500km from the center of the Sun. Similarly the Moon and the Earth are orbiting about a common center of mass that is inside the Earth, approximately 1700km below the surface of the earth.

10 It is the revolution of the Earth in this small orbit that is the counter part of the revolution about the sun. We have already seen that the tide raising forces of the sun is only about that of the moon. But we also need to look at the tide raising forces of the Moon in relation to that of the gravity of the Earth s surface. For this we can neglect all centrifugal forces due to axial rotation. Upon comparison we see that the tidal forces of the moon is at most one ten-millionth of the earth s surface gravity.